Oh God, How Did This Happen?

Grappling with the reality of President-Elect Donald J. Trump.

We will discuss this election, for many, many years. It was both a surprise and not a surprise. It was a surprise, because Donald Trump is unfit for office. It was not a surprise because our ruling class—politicians, business leaders, academics, and pundits—was gallingly out of touch, wed to obsolete conditions and tired dogmas. There was, apparently, a silent majority after all, and it woke us up.

But people are, of course, frightened. Even Trump’s supporters surely are. They know their man is erratic and narcissistic. People can enjoy watching the establishment getting scourged in a populist rage. But millions of non-powerful Americans, and millions of people who live here illegally but wish they were Americans, also face this upheaval. They fear racial violence, deportations, and disenfranchisement. Whether their fears are reasonable or not doesn’t matter today: they are in deep pain. Decency requires that they be reassured, and if Trump won’t do it then the rest of us have to do what we can.

VIDEO: The Evolution of Donald Trump’s Presidential Campaign

The Senate and House will also go Republican. This might have been productive in a Hillary Clinton presidency—divided government is more accountable government—but in a Trump presidency it risks enabling someone badly in need of boundaries. To be sure, most Republicans seem to fear Trump as much as Democrats do, but on the other side they fear their own constituents. So they’ll be under a lot of pressure to give him a pass.

But we don’t need to rehearse the fears. Since recriminations will be flying in the days and weeks to come, let’s take a moment, instead, for optimism.

Start with the border wall. It’s symbolically fraught, but even if it happens it’s not that dramatic in real life. Can you name 20 countries that have fenced borders (island nations don’t count) and twenty that don’t? A wall just stands there, the physical manifestation of laws on paper. As a defense, a wall is peaceful, and it’s hardly as damaging to our moral standing in the world as thousands of drone strikes. It is also, curiously enough, a key to amnesty for those here illegally. If you ask opponents of “comprehensive immigration reform” for their opinion, they say amnesty will beget amnesty, as politicians become ever less willing to alienate a growing demographic. If they’re confident the problem is under control, though, they’re much more flexible. And mass deportations do not enjoy the support of Americans, not even immigration hardliners. Trump may ultimately help heal one of our worst rifts rather than widen it.

Let’s also consider the economy, which offers bad news that contains good news. The bad news is we’re probably going into a recession. Historically, we’ve averaged expansions of roughly five years, followed by recessions. This latest expansion has already lasted longer then normal, so it’ll probably hit soon. The good news is that causes gains for the opposition party during midterm elections. Having more Democrats back in the House and Senate is the best hope of putting a check on Trump, and we’re likely to get them. A recession also increases the likelihood of Trump serving a single term, and one term is enough.

Finally, there’s the old Republican Party. Trump has killed it, and that’s a good thing. The old G.O.P. had nothing to offer anyone except financiers, oil barons, and hacks. A Marco Rubio presidency would have been its triumph, giving us a rerun of George W. Bush Republicanism—tax cuts, entitlement cuts, donor-class pandering, and war. Trump shed the orthodoxies on fiscal policies and defense—not to mention trade agreements or cutting entitlements or to pretending war with Iraq was a good idea—and even offered a liberal line on certain social issues, voicing support for the “L-G-T-B-Q.”

Trump vows to repeal Obamacare, like other Republicans, but he also vows to replace it with something “better” and to make sure the poorest aren’t left untreated. (No, we can’t know that will happen, but a promise of that sort is better than no promise at all.) Trump, unlike Rubio, has vowed to leave entitlements alone. (No one naturally wants to touch those, anyway, so without a presidential buy-in, nothing happens.) He has vowed to reduce our foreign commitments rather than add to them. (Whether we stay out of war depends on whether Trump’s policy preferences, which were on several fronts less hawkish than those of Clinton, can survive contact with his personality flaws. Maybe not—and that’s of course terrifying—but there’s hope.) An ordinary Republican would have seen Clinton’s saber rattling on Russia and raised it.

Finally, we’ve seen a huge realignment that was carried out peacefully. In other countries, this happens too late and unfolds at gunpoint. Since 1865, the United States has resolved these things in a civilized manner—as it did in 1980, or in 1932. It happened again with this election. Millions of Americans feel trapped in a speeding car going the wrong way, seeing their way of life overturned with too much force and suddenness, and our establishment was saying, “Doesn’t this thing go any faster?” The tragedy was that only Donald Trump seemed to pick up on this. But he did, and voters rewarded him. The sooner good people get Trump’s message, the sooner Trump becomes superfluous. Let’s hope it’s soon.

Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.

At least we’re not going to hear a lot about rigged polls.

VIDEO: The Evolution of Donald Trump’s Presidential Campaign

Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.Photograph by Justin Bishop.